A Matched pair
by Sailor Simba
Summary: Set after the Prank. Remus hasn’t quite forgiven Sirius yet, and they’re trying to rebuild their relationship. [Yes, it's slash, which means that the relationship they're trying to rebuild is a romanticsexual one. RUN, CHILDREN!]


**Title: **A Matched Pair

**Author: **Sailor Simba

**Archive:** Of course, but please drop me a line to tell me where it goes.

**Rating: **PG-13

**Spoilers:** None, but you should have read PoA before reading this so you know what I'm talking about.

**Summary: **Set after the Prank. Remus hasn't quite forgiven Sirius yet, and they're trying to rebuild their relationship.

**Warnings: **Slash, _very_ brief S/M reference

**Notes: **The poem in the beginning is not supposed to be good; in this story, Sirius is _not_ a love poet. Shows, huh? ^_~ Thanks a lot to my beta Jame.

_Remus, o Remus,_

_Light of my day_

_I love you forever_

_Don't hate me, nay_

Remus looked up from the slip of parchment Sirius had given him. Sirius looked at him with pleading eyes. Remus sighed and closed his eyes.

"Sirius." Exasperatedly.

"Yes?" Hopefully.

"Why are you giving me this?" Tiredly.

 "What? You don't like it?" Pleadingly.

"If you could just leave me alone--"

A slammed door.

***

"Sirius?" Hesitantly.

"Yes?" Petulantly.

Remus sat down next to Sirius, looking out over the vast Hogwarts Lake.

"I have a perfectly legitimate reason for my behaviour. Will you hear me out?"

Sirius looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "How many times did you practise that?"

"A few," admitted Remus uncomfortably.

Sirius shifted, lay down on the grass. "Okay then. Talk."

"I need some space, that's all." Remus looked expectantly at Sirius, who raised an eyebrow again.

"Is that your great speech?"

"What I mean is," said Remus loudly to drown out any further sarcasm, "I've already forgiven you. You don't need to appease me with love poems."

Sirius looked at him with a variation of the 'sad puppy'-eyes. "You _say_ you've forgiven me, but you hardly talk to me anymore, Remus."

Remus bit his lip in thought. "I had a perfectly reasonable conversation with you at breakfast."

"About _homework_, Remus. You don't talk to me about things that _matter_ anymore."

"We talked about the next full moon."

Sirius winced and looked slightly uncomfortable. "...You won't let me touch you," he whispered, in voice almost too low for Remus to catch.

Remus felt a slight twinge in his heart. It was true, but could he be expected to, after what had happened? Sirius had given away his biggest secret, and to _Snape,_ no less. Remus didn't know if he could trust Sirius not to give _this _secret away, too, and he said as much.

Sirius looked at him with what seemed to be an attempt at a smile, but came away more as a sad grimace. "That's okay," he said and rose. "But we're still friends, right?"

"Of course we are," Remus assured him. "But nothing more."

Sirius walked away with a noticeable slump in his shoulders.

***

Over the next days, Sirius took to flirting with everyone who looked his way. James and Peter gave both Remus and Sirius strange looks, but neither said anything.

Remus watched Sirius, sourly wondering what Sirius wanted to accomplish with it. He didn't expect Remus--the one who had broken up--to get jealous, did he? Because that was not going to happen. 

And yet, his heart clenched when he saw Sirius's hand linger over some girl's. She had 'accidentally' dropped her books right in front of Sirius's feet.

"How convenient," whispered James to the three Marauders who weren't currently picking the girl's books up, and Remus agreed wholeheartedly. He couldn't help his inward, sardonic snicker over the fact that Sirius didn't even _like_ girls, and here he was, acting as if he was ready to take every single one of them to bed at once.

Remus turned away in disgust.

***

"Sirius?" James called as he stepped into the dorm. "Are you here?"

"Here," replied Sirius sullenly from his bed, where the hangings were drawn. James climbed into it and sat down next to his best friend.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked.

"Why not?"

"Sirius!" James frowned. "Stop acting like a spoiled brat, I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you!"

"And I'm trying to sulk, but do I see you respecting that and getting the hell away from me? No."

James sighed tiredly. "Fine. Be like that. I'm sure that if you just _talked_ to Moony, he'd--"

"He'd what?" Sirius had flown off the bed in rage, his eyes blazing. "He'd what? I'll tell you; he'd tell me what an untrustworthy prick I am--again--and how he never wants to be more than friends with me--also again--and just to make sure I get the point, maybe he'll tell me to just off the Divination Tower!" Sirius had moved closer, and looked like he wanted to hit someone; preferably Snape, but James was closer. "_He_ was the one who broke up with _me_, James."

"After what you did--"

"I _know_ it was wrong! I've said I'm sorry, and Remus says he's forgiven me, but he still won't-- won't..." Angry tears were glistening in the corners of Sirius's eyes. He took a deep breath and started again. "I can barely breathe without Remus, James. I don't know what to do with myself without him. D'you think I'd be doing this if I had a choice?"

James watched sadly as Sirius stormed out of the dorm and slammed the door.

***

Remus was sulking. James had cornered him earlier and told him in hushed tones that it "wasn't easy for Sirius either."

Remus didn't _care_ it wasn't easy for Sirius, he didn't _want_ it to be easy for Sirius; it wasn't his life-long goal; if given the choice, he would not, at the moment, say, "hey, everyone is miserable but let's not care, because _Sirius_ is happy and that's all that matters," and _by God_, he wasn't jealous of Sirius's latest flirt! He watched the girl through narrowed eyes, and didn't turn to acknowledge Peter as he sat down next to Remus.

"Have you noticed," said Peter absently as he buttered his toast, "that all those who catch Sirius's interest follow the same pattern? Light brown hair, quiet and studious, and kind of shy and secretive?"

Remus glared at Peter, who wasn't affected in the least.

"Ever wondered why that is?" said Peter with a pointed look at Remus, and waved. "See you in Transfiguration."

_But we have Charms now_, thought Remus wildly, wondering if he had glared at the girl for so long that he'd somehow forgotten the time, and then it clicked. He glared at Sirius, who looked crestfallen, and got up.

He wasn't going to follow their little schemes.

***

Remus walked in rather stubbornly into the Charms classroom, glaring at Peter and James, who rolled their eyes. He sat down and opened his book, absently noticing that Sirius wasn't there.

The boy in question walked in ten minutes late, looking mildly disappointed.

"What's the matter? Wouldn't that tart you were talking to put out?" Remus snarled, and Sirius froze.

He turned his stony eyes at Remus. "If I remember correctly, you were the one who insisted we do it this way," he said in a cold, clipped tone, and sat down in the seat farthest away from Remus.

But Remus had had enough. "I DIDN'T ASK YOU TO ACT LIKE A COMPLETE WHORE!" he yelled, and their classmates' surprise murmurs and shocked gasps mingled with Professor Flitwick's high-pitched squeaks.

"Mr Lupin! Kindly sit down, and don't talk to your friends like that!"

"He's not my friend," snarled Remus, and Sirius rose with a bang, breaking one of the legs on his chair.

"No, because nothing I ever do is good enough for you! I've left you alone like you wanted me to; _what more can I do to please you_!?" He shot Remus a contemptuous glare before storming out of the classroom.

Remus growled loudly before following, barely registering Flitwick's angered squeak of "Twenty points from Gryffindor! And detention for them both!"

_What more can I do to please you? _was ringing in his ears, and it was making him angrier every second. _I'll tell you what you can do to please me; you can stop flirting with those bloody girls and get down on you knees before me like an obedient puppy. _"SIRIUS!" he bellowed, causing the students he passed to jump in fright and getting out of his way faster than quick. "SIRIUS! GET BACK HERE AT _ONCE_!"

Sirius turned around; he looked angrier than Remus had ever seen him before. "Do you _really_ want this shouting match here? What if someone figures out what we used to do?" And he turned around again and continued to walk with long, efficient strides.

Remus blinked, and hurried to catch up. He hadn't though of that, and he hadn't thought that Sirius had a purpose with his running. He'd just assumed that Sirius was trying to escape the blame, as usual. _But he doesn't do that_, the unwanted part of his brain added. _He always takes responsibility, even when he hasn't really done anything._ Remus winced slightly; Sirius had taken the blame for many of Remus' pranks, thus getting himself into many more detentions than he really deserved. And here Remus was, thinking of Sirius as an irresponsible person. _He's gotten away with a lot, too; I bet he hasn't had any more detentions than he really deserves,_ Remus tried to placate his brain. It didn't answer.

When Remus finally got to the dorm, closed the door and put a silencing spell on it, Sirius was standing in the middle of the room, looking very intimidating in Remus' eyes. _Way to go, Remus,_ his brain told him. _What have I told you about speaking before you think? _Remus asked it to shut up, but couldn't help feeling it had a point.

Remus shifted slightly, waiting for Sirius to say something, then he realised that technically, _he_ should be the one talking. "I... I'm sorry," he said at length.

"For what?" asked Sirius, still in the cold, clipped voice.

"For... for not being you friend," Remus said, glancing at Sirius to gauge his reaction. "And for calling you a whore. And... and..." he looked down at the floor. The impact of how stupidly he'd behaved hadn't really hit before, but now it did. Sirius wasn't looking anything like Remus was used to; a big frown had taken the place where there used to be a brilliant smile and dazzling eyes, the once so pliant body was now rigid and unwelcoming, and Sirius's whole being, that used to radiate love, was now exuding hurt and anger; it was like a stone-cold wall had cut them off. "I'm sorry for everything," whispered Remus, willing the tears away. It wouldn't do to cry now; he'd brought his on himself. "I was just... afraid. Afraid of letting go." Remus looked up at Sirius, who had looked away. "Sirius?"

Sirius was looking at the carpet, but Remus could tell he wasn't really seeing it. He had the far-off look he usually got in his eyes when you talked for too long about his family. "You really hurt me," he said finally, and Remus sighed in relief. If they'd gotten so far that Sirius felt he could tell Remus what he was feeling--and Remus was sure he wasn't lying, both because it would be so unlike Sirius and because it was a pointless lie; Sirius had never been one for fake angst--then they could be all right again.

"I'm sorry," whispered Remus again, and took a few careful steps towards Sirius. Sirius looked up unsurely, and Remus could see all the conflicting emotions in his eyes; confusion, fear, hope, and first and foremost, love.

Remus smiled, took the final steps to Sirius, and kissed him lightly on the lips. When he drew back, a smile was threatening to break out on Sirius's face.

"What if I hadn't forgiven you?" he said, but the tone of his voice took away the harshness of the words; Remus hadn't heard him sound that happy since the first time they'd made love.

"I can read you like an open book," said Remus, and he knew he probably sounded just as happy.

Sirius just smiled and kissed him, wrapping his arms around his neck. Remus opened his mouth and let his tongue flicker out against Sirius's lips, tasting the skin there and longing for the inside. Sirius parted his lips immediately, and Remus smiled. It had been far too long, and Sirius tasted just like he remembered; sunshine, chocolate and so very _Sirius_.

Remus pushed Sirius back against the bed that was closest to them; it turned out to be James's, but neither was in the mood to care.

"I love you?" breathed Sirius in his ear, seeking reassurance.

Remus was quick to deliver. "I love you too," he confirmed, and kissed Sirius again. 

_Looks like Prongs and Wormtail will be sleeping in the common room tonight, _he thought happily.__


End file.
